Customer Snapshot
- Location: Lake Havasu City, AZ
- Events on RunSignup: 2
- Inaugural Event : 265 Registrants
- Out-of-State Attendees: 40%
Background: A Retired Firefighter Hits the Trails
After 34 years as a firefighter, Tony Rivello retired in January 2022 and quickly realized he needed somewhere to put his energy. He found it on the trails around Lake Havasu City — and in the idea of creating races on them.
“I wanted to find an outlet and do something I’d always wanted to do,” Tony says. That desire became AZAK Event Co., a race production company built around the rugged desert terrain of western Arizona.
He didn’t build it alone. Tony co-founded AZAK Event Co. with his son Anthony, who has taken an increasingly active role in the operation — including stepping into the race director seat at their most recent event.
Their inaugural event, the Lizard Peak Scramble Trail Runs, wasn’t without its hurdles. Permit delays with the Bureau of Land Management pushed the race from a spring launch to October — but Tony sees that as a silver lining. “It actually gave us more time to plan properly,” he says. “Everything came together better because of it.”
Choosing RunSignup: A Community Recommendation
When it came time to pick a registration platform, Tony didn’t have to look far. He turned to a race director Facebook group — a go-to resource for the endurance event community — and RunSignup came up consistently.
I looked at other platforms, but they felt outdated. RunSignup was clearly more modern, more robust, and more user-friendly. — Owner/Race Director
It was a straightforward decision for a first-time race director navigating an already complex launch.
The Inaugural Event: 265 Registrants and an “Absolutely Epic” Day
The first Lizard Peak Scramble Trail Runs drew 265 registrants across the 5K and 10K distances — a strong debut for a brand-new event in a mid-sized Arizona market.
The success of the race extended beyond registrations. A subsequent AZAK event, Havasu on the Rocks, drew over 40% of its participants from outside Lake Havasu City, with runners traveling from as far away as Idaho and Washington. For Tony, those numbers aren’t just a registration milestone — they’re an economic story.
I can show the city and local sponsors that we’re bringing people here. That matters for tourism reporting and for building long-term relationships with the community. — Owner/Race Director
Features That Made a Difference
Race Day Check-In and Dynamic Bib Assignment
On race day, Tony’s volunteer team used RunSignup’s Race Day Check-In app and dynamic bib assignment feature — and the results were immediately noticeable.
“It simplified everything for my volunteers,” Tony says. “They didn’t need to be experienced. The app walked them through it.”
Dynamic bib assignment removed the need for pre-sorted bib packets, allowing check-in to run smoothly even as participants arrived in waves across multiple race distances.
Tiered Pricing and Registration Blitz
Tony has embraced RunSignup’s flexible pricing tools to build momentum — and urgency — around registration. For 2026, he launched a “Registration Blitz” with deeply discounted early rates, followed by price increases on the first of each month through August.
The results speak for themselves: 77 registrants in just eight days after the 2026 registration opened.
“The pricing strategy creates a sense of urgency,” Tony says. “People know the price goes up, so they don’t wait.”
Heat Map Analytics
One of Tony’s unexpected favorite features is RunSignup’s participant heat map, which visualizes where registrants are coming from geographically.
“I didn’t anticipate how useful that would be,” he says. “When I’m sitting across from a city official or a sponsor and I can show them a map of where our runners are coming from — that changes the conversation.”
Volunteer and Sponsor Management
With races spanning multiple distances and start times, volunteer coordination is a significant operational challenge. Tony has now delegated volunteer management entirely to a dedicated coordinator — freeing him to focus on the bigger picture.
“RunSignup makes it easy enough that I can hand it off,” he says. “That’s huge for me.”
He’s taking the same approach with sponsor management, planning to assign a dedicated liaison to handle vendor relationships through the platform dashboard.
Photography and Course Capture
Tony has also used RunSignup’s mobile timing app to support on-course photography — capturing the scenic desert landscape that makes Lizard Peak such a distinctive race. He plans to expand this capability as the event grows, using the platform to give participants a lasting connection to the experience.
Donations and Non-Profit Integration
Behind the races, Tony has established a non-profit organization focused on first responder mental health and resiliency — a cause close to his heart after more than three decades in the fire service. RunSignup’s donation feature, integrated directly into the event registration flow, has allowed him to raise funds for the cause alongside race sign-ups.
“It’s important to me personally,” Tony says. “Being able to tie it into the race platform makes it easy for participants to contribute.”
Support: Help When It Matters
For a first-time race director standing up a new platform, responsive support is critical. Tony says RunSignup delivered.
“Anytime I had a question, I got a real answer quickly,” he says. “The support team was great, and the help resources are genuinely useful. I never felt like I was on my own.”
What’s Next for AZAK Event Co.
Tony isn’t slowing down. He’s already planning an expanded 2026 event schedule and has his eye on introducing an ultra-distance race by 2028, potentially using the local rodeo grounds to provide participant add-on amenities like camping and showers.
He’s also exploring RunSignup’s mobile timing app for future races — evaluating its feasibility for tracking participants across multiple checkpoints on longer courses.
RunSignup is more robust and user-friendly than anything else I looked at. The support team is responsive, the tools are intuitive, and the analytics help me tell the story of what this event means to the community. — Owner/Race Director
